People who are at elevated positions above a floor or other relatively lower surface can be at risk of falling and injury. For example, workers and other personnel who have occupations that require them to be at elevated positions, such as on scaffolding, can be at risk of falling and injury. Safety harnesses can be worn to stop a person's fall and prevent or reduce injury. Safety harnesses, such as a seat belt, also can be worn to secure the occupant of a vehicle in the event of a sudden stop or collision to reduce the risk of injury.
Safety harnesses typically have a harness portion worn by the user and a tether or lanyard extending from the harness portion. The lanyard connects the harness portion to a secure structure. If a person falls from the elevated position, or is subjected to inertia due to a vehicle's sudden stop, the safety harness stops the person's fall, or prevents the person's forward movement, when the lanyard is straightened. With typical lanyards, however, the person's movement is stopped rather abruptly and the person is subjected to the shock force of the abrupt stop.
Lanyards that attempt to absorb the shock of a person's fall are known. Current lanyards have been made from two separate webbings assembled together. One webbing is a narrow, flat webbing woven of partially oriented yarn (POY webbing) and the other webbing is a relatively higher strength tubular-shaped webbing. After manufacture of the two webbings, the POY webbing is inserted into one end of the tubular-shaped webbing and pulled through the tubular-shaped webbing. A hook or other device inserted into the opposite end of the tubular-shaped webbing can be used to pull the POY webbing through the tubular-shaped webbing. The POY webbing is pulled through the tubular-shaped webbing so that the POY webbing extends inside of the tubular-shaped webbing from one end to the opposite end. The relative lengths of the POY webbing and the tubular-shaped webbing then must be adjusted. While holding the POY webbing in place, one end of the tubular-shaped webbing is moved closer to the opposite end to place the tubular-shaped webbing in an accordion-like position over the POY webbing. The relative length adjustment of the webbings is performed manually and is a significant disadvantage of existing lanyards. After the manual adjustment of the relative webbing lengths, the POY webbing is essentially in a straight, linear orientation inside of the accordion-shaped orientation of the tubular-shaped webbing. The two webbings are then attached to each other by sewing at the ends. Any excess POY webbing extending out of the ends of the tubular-shaped webbing is cut off and discarded.
Because conventional lanyards are made from two separate webbings that must be assembled together, manufacture of the lanyards requires costly and tedious assembly processes, such as inserting the POY webbing through the tubular-shaped webbing. Also, after the insertion process, an additional manual process is required that adjusts the relative webbing lengths by placing the tubular-shaped webbing in the accordion position while maintaining the POY webbing in a straight position. Then, another process is required to attach the two separate webbings together while maintaining the POY webbing in the straight position and the tubular-shaped webbing in the accordion-shaped position. The relative lengths of the POY webbing and the tubular-shaped webbing is critical for proper functioning of the lanyard. The manufacturing process is complicated by proper control and manual setting of the critical relative lengths of the two webbings.
Existing lanyards that purport to reduce shock can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,113,981; 6,085,802; 6,390,234; and 6,533,066 and WIPO Publication No. WO/01/026738.